PBF warns prolonged power outages are hurting industry, exports

Profit by Pakistan Today reported that the Pakistan Business Forum (PBF) wants more openness on power generation, shortages and capacity payments. The group said outages of up to 12 hours a day persist even though Pakistan has 49,651 megawatts of installed capacity. It added that prolonged loadshedding is hurting commercial and industrial activity, while exporters struggle to meet overseas orders on time.

PBF chief organiser Ahmad Jawad asked the Power Division to make public current demand, actual generation and the shortfall covered by loadshedding. It also wants details of operating plants, their output and the number of units generating power. The Power Division has linked around 3,600MW of unavailable generation to a shortage of re-gasified LNG and a late cargo. The PBF questioned how a single delayed cargo could cause such a large disruption while consumers keep paying capacity and fixed charges to independent power producers.

The forum also said circular debt rose 709% to Rs364 billion in the last fiscal year, and it questioned roughly Rs1.8 trillion in yearly payments for idle capacity. It contrasted an average tariff of about Rs8.30 per unit excluding taxes under Nawaz Sharif's government with nearly Rs29 under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The group also asked the government to publish a detailed report explaining repeated tariff increases.